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The Columbia County school board approved a $15.2 million bid Tuesday to build a new Columbia Middle School.

Vidalia, Ga.-based McDonald Construction won the bid and likely will start construction once work clearing the site on William Few Parkway concludes. Site work started this year and should finish soon, school officials said.

The board spent about $1.1 million in October to purchase six parcels near Grovetown High for the new school to replace the more than 50-year-old building on Columbia Road.

Drug counselors and Columbia County school officials warned parents last week that teens are more clever than they realize in finding ways to obtain and use drugs.

School administrators said during a substance abuse forum held Thursday at Grovetown Middle School that they have caught students eating vodka-soaked jelly beans and using ink pens converted into marijuana pipes to elusively use drugs at schools.

Out of tragedy sprang new life. At least that’s the way some view the Aleana Johnson Memorial Garden at Westmont Elementary School.

When 5-year-old Aleana Johnson was struck and killed by a school bus in January 2001, it sparked her school family to create a lasting memorial to the kindergartner.

“Smiles, pride, warm greetings and thoughtfulness were some of the characteristics of Aleana,” said Barbara Guillory, Aleana’s kindergarten teacher, who still teaches at the school. “I’m honored to have known and shared in the educational aspect of Aleana’s life.”

A Harlem man accused of accidentally shooting a Harlem High School student in August was sentenced to jail Thursday morning.

Jeremy Lane Farley, 23, of the 6700 block of Wrightsboro Road, pled guilty to aggravated assault and unlawful discharge of a firearm on a public roadway, a misdemeanor, his attorney Jason Troiano said.

Superior Court Judge Carl C. Brown sentenced Farley to a 5-year sentence. He’s to serve the first 18 months in the Columbia County Detention Center and the remainder on probation.